Gustav Doetsch (29 November 1892 – 9 June 1977) was a German mathematician, aviation researcher, decorated war veteran, and Nazi supporter. Early life Doetsch was born into a strict Catholic family on 29 November 1892 in Cologne. From 1904 to 1911 he attended Wohler High School in Frankfurt, going on to attend the universities at Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin between 1911 and 1914, studying mathematics, physics and philosophy. World War One With the outbreak of World War I, his studies were interrupted when he joined the army in October 1914. Serving in the infantry for two years, in 1916 he moved to the air force where he served as an aerial observer. In 1918 he was discharged, having received the Iron Cross and position of second-lieutenant. Completion of studies He returned to his studies, completing his doctorate at Göttingen in 1920 with the thesis Eine neue Verallgemeinerung der Borelschen Summabilitätstheorie der divergenten Reihen. In 1921 he completed his habilitation thesis at the Technical University of Hannover. Academia From 1922 to 1924 he lectured at the University of Halle. Following that he became a professor at the Technical University of Stuttgart. He was offered the chair of mathematics position at the University of Greifswald and University of Giessen, which he declined, before accepting the mathematics chair position at the University of Freiburg in 1931. Modern Laplace transform The modern formation and permanent structure of the Laplace transform is found in Doetsch's 1937 work Theorie und Anwendung der Laplace-Transformation, which was well-received internationally. He dedicated most of his research and scientific activity to the Laplace transform, and his books on the subject became standard texts throughout the world, translated into several languages. His texts were the first to apply the Laplace transform to engineering. Nazi support Following World War One, Doetsch adopted pacifist beliefs, joining the Peace Association of German Catholics from 1926 to 1928 and the German Peace Society from 1926 to 1930. However, after the National Socialists assumed power in 1933, he was described as having become "110% Nazi." The policies of the Nazis began to have an effect on academia in Germany, where Jewish intellectuals were targeted for dismissal. Doetsch approved of the dismissal of colleagues he had at one time collaborated with, such as Edmund Landau, who was his professor when he earned his doctorate at Göttingen, and Felix Bernstein, with whom he had spent much time while